The Falcon and The Dog
by superdoodlesmaximum
Summary: Hana Inu is orphaned in a traitorous attack, the only thing she knows is that her mother wants to get to Hayabusa village and to find Ryu Hayabusa. She has and suffering from a severe leg injury and illness from exposure, she has no idea what happens now. I would appreciate constructive critiques or just say ya' like it :-)
1. Chapter 1

News tends to travel very quickly in underground communities, and there is no more underground community than that of the ninja. Enemies or friends, one ninja clan will always know what is happening in one family or another. That is how it has been and that is how it will always be. This ability to spread knowledge quickly and unfettered in one of the things that has kept the ninja hidden from the "modern world" and kept them powerful.

So when news began to circulate of the compete annihilation of a ninja clan it shook this underground world very hard and very deep.

The clan was the Inu clan. A clan that was old and powerful and just as hidden as all the others. They had aided some clans in wars and sometimes they played peacemaker, avoiding all out bloodshed and violence and saving more lives than anyone realized until the holidays and birthdays came around they saw just how many people there were still around to love and celebrate. The Inu clan was widely loved.

Their leader Shogo Inu, was a kind man. He had inherited the position of clan leader and his father's name at an early age; passing the secret test that was customary for the men in his family. He had passed with a grace and skill that had almost driven his father to tears of joy. Shogo was a proud and fair man and loved by all who lived under his watchful eye and careful rule.

His wife, Aisa Inu was even more loved than her husband. She was worshiped almost as a goddess, the villagers telling tales of how she had looked and waved or smiled at them. She was treated like a treasure in the Inu village and she was never above helping those in need. She was known to give away her clothes, all of them of course made with the finest of materials and the best of skill, as if it were nothing just to help someone. There had been a flood one year that caused a landslide and she jumped into the mud with a family and helped them dig out their belongings; not caring that she was absolutely covered in mud and her kimono was ruined. She would help any person at any cost to herself.

When Shogo announced, after five years of marriage, that he had Aisa were going to have a child a party had erupted in the village. This pregnancy was celebrated a bit more wildly than was normal because poor Aisa Inu had lost several children before. None of the villagers knew the full number; that was known only to Shogo and his wife. What was known for fact was that she had lost nine children. If she had lost any others after that, Aisa and Shogo had kept the heartbreak to themselves. But everyone knew that Aisa felt and unnecessary shame when it came to the loss of her nine pregnancies. When this pregnancy was announced, she was already far along into it, five months to be exact.

This pregnancy produced a perfectly healthy baby girl who was named Hana and she was loved by every soul in the village. She was showered with gifts and praise from a young age and grew up loving her home, her family and everyone who lived there. Her life was easy for the first few years.

However, when Hana was just five years old, the Inu clan was dragged into a war between two other clans. Many of the Inu's ninja were injured and others lost their lives. The war lasted five years and Hana's idyllic young life was ruined by the constant flood of violence and bloodshed that now colored the atmosphere of the Inu clan. Her father aged much during the five year war. He was on the front lines, fighting and risking his life, just like his men. No one could say that Shogo Inu was a coward.

When the war was over, there was a darkness that had taken root in Shogo, Hana and Aisa, all of the village could see it. He lost several of his best men, including his very best friend. The man who had been like a brother to him. The two had been raised side-by-side and one was rarely seen without the other.

Kohai Wakahisa had been the brother that Shogo had never been blessed with and with his death, something inside of Shogo dimmed and eventually died. He smiled less, was less jovial. He wasn't less loving, he could never love his daughter or his wife any less. But he didn't do the same things with them that he normally had, Aisa had tried her best to bring her husband out of his depression but no matter what she attempted it never worked. The best that had happened had been when she managed to get him to act like his old self for a week. The week was glorious and everything in their home was normal again. He laughed, he played with Hana, making paper cranes with her, leaving treats on her pillow and even making love to his wife. It was just like it was before the war. But at the end of that week, it all came crashing down when he asked the date.

"It's July seventeenth," one of his aids had answered, not realizing the importance of that date until it was too late. July seventeenth was the date of Kohai's birth and also, in a cruel twist of fate, the date of his death. That brought an abrupt and permanent end to Shogo's happiness and in a sense the happiness of his family. He was never the same.

Hana, being so young and desperate to get her father back tried everything she could think of. She would leave paper cranes on her father's pillow while he slept only to find them in a box in a corner later.

By the time she was fifteen her father had died. The depression had been too great for him and he fell ill and just didn't have the will to live. On his last day he apologized to his wife and daughter, had a message taken that was to be read to the village when he passed. Hana held one hand and Aisa the other and Shogo Inu slipped into a peaceful sleep and died.

Hana was destroyed by the death of her father. At the reading of the letter she hid in her mother's arms, unable to face the world without her father to lean on. Even if he hadn't been the man she had loved when she was younger, her father was always there. If not emotionally then at least physically. With him gone the world seemed a cold and dark place. Her mother on the other hand was the very picture of strength. On the inside she was devastated, shattered to her core over the loss of her husband. But on the outside she was strong, collected and ready to take over the job of leading their clan and its ninja. And she did a fantastic job. But it was too much of a job for her alone.

She took on an advisor, a man by the name of Ganta Yoshida. He was a seasoned warrior and knew the ins and outs of battle and subterfuge. She depended on him to keep their enemies at bay and he did his job well.

Hana never liked him. She felt, as children often do, that Ganta was trying to replace her father. When he would smile at her she would glare. When he spoke to her she would ignore him and walk away. If he tried to give her a gift she would give it to some other child. She hated him. And used that as a reason to throw herself into her training. She had been training to be a kunoichi from a young age, as was the custom in her village. But when her father died she started to train harder than was needed. Her master never reprimanded her, he was there to help her on her journey and didn't want to stifle her or make her feel as if she couldn't trust him.

But with Ganta's sudden appearance in her life she threw herself body, mind and soul into her training; to the point where she incurred injuries from pushing her body to and the past its limits. No matter what her master said, his words fell on deaf ears. Sai Mori was very worried for his student but he couldn't get her to relax and take her training slower. As a result she gained skill and renown that was almost unheard of for one her age. But she didn't develop any bonds with her peers. She would just train and go home. That was her life and she seemed content to keep it that way.

When Hana was twenty one, tragedy once again struck her home.

It started with a single flaming arrow while Hana and Aisa had been eating dinner. This one arrow was the forerunner or a volley of flaming arrows; so many that it seemed as if an inferno had been birthed by the sky and was raining down on their home.

The screams that erupted were ear splitting and Hana and her mother were rushed out of the flaming house in an attempt to find them shelter. Hana didn't agree with this. Instead she hid her mother and grabbed her weapons, running out to meet the enemy that was attacking her home.

She fought alongside the men and women of her home, taking the lives of many of the intruders. The bodies of these individuals were strewn all around the ground, mixed in with the bodies of the innocent men, women and children of the Inu village. Hana was driven mad by the sight and her blade thirsted for the blood of those who had destroyed her peaceful home.

It seemed as if they were making a dent in the enemies when Hana heard a voice that she hated to her center. It was Ganta Yoshida stood at the head of the army of invaders, commanding them and slaughtering anyone in his path. Hana wanted to attack him, to take his head from his shoulders and mount it on a spit but instead she ran to find her mother, desperately worried about what may have happened to her mother.

She found her, hiding in a secret room that her father had built just after she had been born, a sort of panic room. Aisa had a letter in her hand and a set of orders for her daughter. Go to Hayabusa village. Find Ryu Hayabusa. Give him this letter. Any questions that Hana tried to ask her mother were blocked by the command to leave the village before they were found and to go to Hayabusa village, get there as quickly as possible. There was a map in the letter that would lead her exactly there. But Hana still faught-the thought of leaving her mother behind to an unknown but undoubtedly painful fate was the only thing she could focus on. She argued and argued with her mother as their home burned around them and the screams of the dying sank into the ground, the smoke blotting out the stars in the moonless night sky. But her mother would not be argued with.

In an act that could only be born out of parental love and desperation, Aisa slapped her arguing daughter. Hana's cheek stung and her eyes burned with tears. Aisa grabbed her daughter in a tight embrace and kissed her cheek, begging her to leave, to stop arguing and to go.

And that's what Hana did. She hugged her mother, told her she loved her and kissed her and ran from the village, the screams of the dying following her like a tail. No matter how hard she ran, no matter how far she got, the screams were still there. Even when she was asleep she heard the screams.

She followed the map her mother had given her, not stopping if she could avoid it. Her body was pushed well past its limit and her heart was broken but still she ran on. On the third day she felt the muscle of her right hip tear and the pain was excruciating but still she ran. Not eating, not drinking and sleeping for a half an hour to an hour at a time.

On the fourth night, she could go no further and Hana collapsed right on the edge of the village. She was found by a farmer who saw the note clenched in her hand. He pulled it free, read it and threw the girl over his shoulder and rushed straight to the main home in the village.

He rushed in, ignoring the strange looks he received and didn't stop until he found their leader.

"Mr. Hayabusa sir!" he called. Ryu was in his home, meditating and turned to look at the man with a passive expression. When he saw the unconscious girl that the farmer had laid on the floor he rushed over, calling for someone to get a doctor and asked for an explanation.

In response the farmer handed over the letter.

Ryu read it and his face changed from confused to horrified and angered. His hand tightened around the letter, the paper's crinkling sounding like gunshots in the quiet home. The farmer left, going to help in the search for a doctor while Ryu picked the girl up and moved her onto a bed roll.

She came to briefly in his arms, fear shading her hazy eyes.

"You're safe now."

"Hayabusa?" She asked, her voice cracking and hoarse from disuse. There was desperation in it that tore at him. He nodded and she sighed and closed her eyes, giving back into unconsciousness and crying.

That is how Hana Inu met Ryu Hayabusa. Orphaned at the age of twenty one, homeless, and at the mercy of a man and a clan that she had never met.


	2. Chapter 2

Hana knew she was asleep but that didn't mean anything. The smell of the smoke was real. The blood dripping down her sword and hands was real. The screams of orphaned children were real. This wasn't a dream, even if her mind told her otherwise. This was the truth. This was real. This was hell.

She saw her mother's face, it was engraved into her mind's eye. She had never realized how beautiful her mother was. Long black hair that came down to her tailbone and shone like a gem and eyes that were a bright golden brown. They glowed as if a light shone from them. Thick eye lashes that framed her eyes and skin that anyone would be jealous of-that she had been jealous of when she was younger. Her skin seemed to give off a soft illumination, she looked like a goddess and glowed like a small star.

But angels did, didn't they? They shone with a pure light that only came from finding peace in the afterlife when the pain and suffering of the real world couldn't touch them anymore. They would be unfazed by the troubles that afflicted the mortal world. No wonder her mother looked so much more beautiful than she remembered. It was because she was in a place where nothing could touch her.

Not pain. Not suffering.

Not Hana.

That thought catapulted Hana into consciousness and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to be awake. Her head was pounding, her mouth felt like it was full of sand and her throat full of glass. Her eyes were swollen and stung as if she had been crying for a very long time. She probably had been. But it was her leg that was bothering her the most. Her right hip felt like it was on fire and like there were rocks rolling around in the joint and bouncing off the bones even though she wasn't moving.

But pain was all she felt. She didn't feel relieved that she had followed out her mother's last order. She didn't feel relieved that she had found Ryu Hayabusa. She didn't feel relieved that she was even alive. Pain radiated through her body, emotional and physical. She just hurt in every way imaginable and somewhere, deep down inside her heart, she was glad for the pain. It blinded her other senses and prevented her from feeling the entirety of the soul crushing agony that was waiting to consume her soul. Instead she just felt a smidgen of that pain.

She felt she deserved it. She hadn't protected her village, she hadn't protected her mother. And she hadn't killed Ganta Yoshida. That was the only thing that cut through the pain that wracked her body. That rage at the fact that somewhere that beast was still breathing, probably laughing and ruining other lives.

"Ah, you're awake."

Hana's heart shot into her throat and she reached for the dagger that she kept hidden on her life thigh only to find it gone. She patted her leg in short frantic movements when she realized she wasn't wearing her own clothes. The hammering of her heart was so hard that she could feel it in her ears and she could feel them burning from the blood surging through her body to every muscle, telling her to find a weapon and defend herself.

"It's okay, relax, you're safe." The bearer of the voice, a woman with black hair and an ample bosom, walked into Hana's field of view. Her hair was tied high up on the top of her head and fell down fairly far down her back. She looked like a shrine maiden but not the average maiden. Hana could feel from this girl that she could fight and definitely handle herself in almost any situation. Which worried Hana. She felt like a wounded animal in a hunter's trap, regardless of the soothing words coming from the girl in the room.

"I'm Momiji," she sat on the floor near the bedroll that Hana had been placed in. She smiled at her but Hana stayed as still as a statue. "It's okay, I promise I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you. The doctor said you have a very serious tear in the muscle of your left thigh I'm afraid. It is going to take a long time to heal." Still Hana said nothing, taking in every detail and looking for something to use as a weapon. The fear in her was irrational and if she was able to think clearly she would have realized it. But the only thing she could think was that her mother ordered her to find Ryu, not anyone else. So she wouldn't trust anyone else. Momiji seemed to sense the fear radiating from Hana and she scooted away but still smiled.

"I guess it's no surprise you're so upset. Waking up in a strange place, in strange clothes."

"Who undressed me?" She wanted to demand the information but her voice was a wreck and barely audible. She sounded so weak that it sickened her. Momiji smiled a bit shyly.

"I did. Your shozoku was filthy and it seemed like it would be best for you to be in clean clothes. I am sorry if you feel…uncomfortable with that but it seemed better than letting a man undress you, even if he was a doctor." Hana wanted to say thank you, it was impulse really. But she held her tongue. But Momiji didn't seem offended. "I'll tell Master Ryu you are awake." She stood and bowed politely and left the room.

Hana took the opportunity to move herself. She pushed herself into a sitting position, her right leg burning like fire when she moved and it was searing. She bit the inside of her cheek but continued moving until she was by a small table that housed a small vase with nothing in it. She grabbed the vase. It wasn't a dagger, a kunai, a sword-it wasn't anything that she felt comfortable with. But it was better than having nothing in her hands and it gave her some small feeling of safety.

She was alone for a few minutes but to her pain addled mind it felt like years. Her heart was still hammering but it was a more controlled speed, the kind of beating that she was used to when she was in a fight. Her body, wounded as it was, was preparing to fight. This was comfortable for her.

When she heard footsteps coming down the hall her grip on the vase tightened. She counted the steps, listening to the sound of bare feet against smooth polished wood. The footsteps were heavy-obviously belonging to a man and from the pause between steps she could tell he was tall or at least had long legs. And he was heavy, probably from a body built with muscle. When the shadow fell into the doorway Hana was ready to fling the vase as hard as possible.

"Easy, easy," Ryu Hayabusa walked into the doorway with his hands raised in front of his face in a submissive and nonthreatening manner. "I'm Ryu, do you remember me?" Hana's answer was to set the vase down on the floor. Still within reach but she wasn't about to fling it at him. He offered her a small smile. "I'll take that as a yes. How are you feeling?"

"How did you know my mother and why did she tell me to come here?" Her voice was still weak but this time she was able to demand the information she wanted. She didn't have time for small talk. Her family had been killed, her village wiped out and she needed to know what was so important about this man that her mother sent her away instead of letting her stay and fight and defend the people she had grown up with and loved with all her heart. Ryu looked serious and sat across from her.

"Your father knew my father. They were friends from my understanding. When you're father passed away and you mother became the leader of your clan she continued the contact between my clan and yours. When I took control she and I began corresponding."

"Why did she send me here?" She repeated. He sighed.

"Because she thought I could help you. Your mother never trusted her advisor." Hana's stomach burned at the thought. "She wanted to get rid of him but she wasn't sure how to go about it. She told me she was worried that he wasn't working for the good of the clan and wanted me to look into him and his past. She wanted to know everything about him so she would know how to stop him from doing whatever it was he was planning. Unfortunately…" he didn't say anything else and Hana just sat there.

"How can you help? What do you know?"

"Right now? That he apparently popped into existence. I can't find any trace of a man with his name in any clan at all. He also hasn't been seen since the attack."

The coward was hiding. Hana's rage was palpable at this point. Her eyes, they were brown-the only mark of her father in any of her features, had darkened and the veins in the whites of her eyes were swollen, a sign that her blood pressure was dangerously high.

"Hana I swore to your mother when we started talking that if the need ever arose, I would protect you and help you. And that's what I'm going to do." He said it like an oath.

"I need to get out of here. I need to go back." She put her hand on the wall and tried to stand but her leg wouldn't bear the weight and she made it all of three inches off of the floor before collapsing painfully back down. Ryu rushed over in an attempt to-what? Help her? Make sure she was okay? Hana didn't want any of it.

"You can't walk with that injury. And going back…Hana that's a bad idea."

"I need to find my mother." Her voice had cleared with use and she barked the words at him. "I need to find her and make sure she's okay. She was hiding, she shouldn't have been found." The look on Ryu's face struck a cold nerve in her chest and her heart hitched. She narrowed her eyes. "What do you know?" He stayed silent.

"_What happened to my mother!" _He inhaled and looked her dead in the eye. There was no malicious light, no intent to hurt her but he was going to say would destroy what little control she had left-what hope she had left.

"I sent men to your village the night of the attack, we could see the smoke from here." That surprised her. Sure there had been a lot of fire but to see it from that far away? That would mean that every possible building had burned, that was the only thing that would give the fire enough power, enough life to produce smoke that could be seen from miles away. "They got there just after the attack right after Ganta," Hana's face pinched. He cleared his throat, realizing his mistake but he continued on. "They didn't her-"

"I told you she was hiding." She cut him off.

"In one piece." He said heavily. She opened her mouth, closed it and stared at him, not fully comprehending what he said. Ryu continued on, knowing prolonging this would only make it worse. "He…apparently…used your mother as an example…my men found…her limbs posted on the bridges in the heart of the village and her head and torso on the bridge right at the entrance."

Hana stopped breathing.

"Hana I'm sorry…" The sorrow and anguish on her face ate at him and he felt guilty, as if he had carried out the horrible act himself.

Hana's eyes were blank, her pupils huge and devouring her irises completely. He called her name and the only response was a small helpless squeak as she stared past him.

Her mother was gone, mutilated.

'_her head and torso on the main bridge…her limbs on the bridges at the heart of the village…' _she heard the words over and over in her head, screaming around her mind and tearing her apart. Her heart ached and her soul felt like it was burning. She could actually feel her soul inside her chest, burning like a white hot inferno and her hands found her way over it and pressed into her chest. The heat from her chest spread down her limbs into every inch of her body. Her head felt hazy, her ears were ringing and her heart was beating wrong. Too many beats at a time then too few.

She felt something ice cold on her cheeks and somewhere, a small primal part of her brain realized she was crying. Her throat her and she realized she was screaming. Her lungs burned with the need for air but she kept screaming any way. Was that blood she was tasting? There was something coppery flowing up into the back of her throat and onto the back of her tongue.

The edges of her vision went black and she didn't see the wall ahead of her. She didn't see Ryu. She saw her mother. Her body ripped into bloody pieces and mounted on the pillars on the bridges of her home. It was just too much. Something snapped in her so hard that she knew, just knew, that everyone had heard it.

Ryu watched in heartbreaking uselessness. He had been the bearer of the worst kind of news and watching this twenty one year old girl suffer through the worst day of her life was horrible. He felt like he needed to do something to try to ease her earthshattering suffering. But what?

As he watched Hana folded over on herself, her forehead against the floor as her fists, which seemed so small and feeble, pounded against the floor. The screaming hadn't stopped but her voice was cracking and it was interspersed with sobs. He rose and sat in front of her and picked her up, just enough so he could put his arms around her and pull her to his chest which she started hitting instead of the floor but he could barely feel it.

He let her cry as long as she needed, she cried past the point of tears, she cried to the point of feeling ill. She was so distraught that Ryu called for Momiji and had her find a doctor who could give Hana something to sedate her. In just minutes she was given a cup of tea loaded with many different herbs to calm her. When the cup was given to her she was mute. Her eyes were red and swollen and she was trembling, blank eyed and pale. She was told to drink the tea-gently as to avoid causing her any undue upset. She didn't say anything, all the fight had left her body.

She let Ryu lead her to her bed roll, laid down when he told her to and closed her eyes when he told her to. The tea had her unconscious within minutes of lying down and Ryu sat next to her, rage boiling inside him. He swore he'd protect Hana and instead he'd caused her to have a complete mental breakdown. He looked at her and the rage burned hotter, the guilt at not being able to help Aisa further. He should have just gone and killed Ganta Yoshida himself before any of this had a chance to happen. But he didn't. He whispered an apology to the prone resting body beside him and swore again, to himself, that he would do whatever it took to stop Ganta, to kill him, to help Hana find peace and avenge her mother and her decimated clan.


End file.
